Mine-door-operating device.



Patented July 5, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SEEE?! l.

m H W u om m\ .ww v L A m m VICE.

F.`G.T0DD.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 5,1909..

MINE DOOR' OPERATING DE fue Nanms fsfsfes caA. wAsHlNmaN. nl c.

witwassen F. C. TODD. MINE DOOR OPERATING DEVIGB.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 5,1909.

lPmntea July 5,- 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

:Elz Eh- EI L FREDERICK C. TODD, OF PHILIPSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

MINE-DOOR-OPERATING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July s, 191e.

Application filed April 5, 1909. Serial No.. 487,944.

To all whom it may concern:

|Be it known that I, FREDERICK C. TODD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philipsburg, in the county of Center and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mine- DoorOperating Devices; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in mine door operating devices.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of this character by means of which the air controllingl doors of mines may be automatically opened by an approaching car, and means whereby the same will be closed after the car has passed.

The further object is to provide a mine door operating mechanism which will be simple, strong, and durable in construction, efficient and reliable in operation and well adapted for the purpose for which it is designed.

With this and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying is a horizontal sectional view through a portion of a mine showing a top plan view of my improved door operating mechanism. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 5. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view on the line 3*.5 of Fig. 15. Fig. 4 is a similar view on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is an enlarged top plan view of the doors, the main operating shaft, the inner ends of the rock shafts and their adjacent parts, showing the doors in closed position, and, Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the doors in open position.

Referring more particularly to the drawing 1 denotes the passage way through a mine through which the mine cars pass, and in said passage way is arranged the usual or any form of car tracks 2. In the passage way 1 is arranged air controlling doors 3 and 4 arranged to close the passage way and thereby prevent drafts of air through the same. The doors 3 and 4 are suitably hinged to the opposite side walls of the passage way, said hinged connection being here drawing: Figure 1 shown and is preferably in the form of pivot rods or pintles 5, the upper and lower ends of which are pivotally engaged with brackets G secured to the walls of the passage way. The lower ends of the pintles project through the lower bracket 6, and rest upon metal bearing plates 7 arranged on the bottom of the iioor of the passage way. By thus hingedly mounting the doors they will freely swing to an open or closed position. `When in a closed position the inner edges of the doors preferably overlap as is clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing.

Mounted to oscillate in suitable bearings 8 on supporting posts or brackets along one side of the track 2 at one side of the doors is a rock shaft 9. A similarly mounted rock shaft 10 is arranged on the same side of track on the opposite side of the doors. The rock shafts 9 and 10 are arranged at a suitable elevation above the level of the tracks and to the rock shaft J is secured the upper ends of a series of depending rightangular supporting rods 11, the lower right-angular bent ends of said rods increasing in length toward the door end of the rock shaft as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. Secured to the free ends of the right angular bent portions of the rods 11 is a wheel engaging bar 12 the inner sides of the opposite ends of which are preferably beveled, as shown. Theouter end of the barI 12 is in a plane outside of the adjacent rail of the track while the inner end of the bar 12 projects beyond the inner side of said track rail and is in a plane between the two rails as shown. Secured to the rock-shaft 10 on the opposite side of the doors are right-angular formed depending supporting rods 13 to the free ends of the right-angular bent portions of which is secured the wheel engaging bar 14, which is similar in construction and arrangement to the bar 12 on the opposite side of the doors. The bars 12 and 14 are supported at a suitable elevation above the tracks so that when the car approaches the doors in either direction the wheels of the car will engage the inner edges of one or the other of said bars, and will gradually move or crowd the bars outward thereby oscillating the rock shaft to which the bar is secured.

Mounted in suitable bearings in a recess in the walls adjacent to one side of the door 3 is a short main operating shaft 15 to which is secured downwardly projecting operating rods 16, which are connected at their lower ends by short connecting links 17 with the supporting rods 11 and 13 on the inner ends of the rock shafts 12 and 111, whereby when either of said rock shafts is oscillated by an approaching car as hereinbefore described, the motion t-hereof will be imparted to the main operating shaft to oscillate the same. Also connected to the main operating shaft is a depending door operating rod 18, to the lower end of which is connected a transversely disposed operating bar 19, which passes beneath the tracks and is connected to the lower ends of the pintles 5 and 6 of the doors by short crank arms 20, whereby when the main operating shaft is rocked or oscillated in the manner hereinbefore described, the doors will be simultaneously swung outward in opposite directions to an open position. After the doors have been thus opened by the engagement of the wheels of an approaching car with the operating bar on one side or the other of the doors, said doors will be held open by the engagement of the wheels with the bar on the opposite side of the doors until the car has entirely passed through and the wheels have left or ceased to engage the last mentioned bar, after which the doors will be automatically brought to a closed position by a suitable closing mechanism which is here shown and is preferably in the form of a weight 21, which is connected to one of the rock shafts and projects beyond the outside thereof as shown.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood without requiring a more extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent 1s:-

1. In a mine door operating apparatus,

the combination with a car track, a supporting structure arranged at one side of said track, of a frame comprising a rock shaft mounted for oscillation in said structure, a plurality of L-shaped members rigidly secured at the free end of one arm to said shaft at intervals with the other arm of said members extending laterally toward the track, the laterally extending arms of said members being graduated in length from one end of said rock shaft to the other, a bar rigidly secured to the free ends of said laterally extending graduated arms in one end arranged in a plane outside the car track and the other end extending in a plane u,

between the track rails, and means for connecting said rock shaft with the door to be operated.

2. In a mine door operating apparatus, the combination with a car track, a sup porting structure arranged at one side of said track, of a frame comprising a rock shaft mounted for oscillation in said structure, a plurality of L-shaped members rigidly secured at the free end of one arm to said shaft at intervals with the other arm of said members extending laterally toward the track, the laterally extending arms of said members being graduated in length from one end of said rock shaft to the other, a bar rigidly secured to the free ends of said laterally extending graduated arms in one end arranged in a plane outside the car track and the other end extending in a plane between the track rails, an operating shaft, a depending rod secured to said shaft, a link connecting said rod with one of said L-shaped members, another rod depending from said operating shaft, a door operating bar arranged transversely beneath the track and connected with said last mentioned rod and crank arms connecting said bar with the door pintles.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK C. TODD.

W'itnesses IV. D. CROSBY, J. K. IIoRToN. 

